The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, has faulted the views of the Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, concerning the state pardon granted by President Muhammadu Buhari , to a former Governor of Plateau, Joshua Dariye, and his Taraba State counterpart, Jolly Nyame, saying it lacked moral justification.
It would be recalled that Wike on saturday while speaking in Minna, Niger State, where he met with delegates of the Peoples Democratic Party, criticised the state pardon, saying it ridiculed the judiciary which had convicted both men of corruption.
He lamented that the Buhari -led administration is selective in its war against corruption.
He added that the state pardon was strategically done towards the forthcoming 2023 general elections.
Reacting, Shehu, in a post on Facebook, faulted Wike’s criticism, stating that the Governor ought to have made it known at the meeting where the state pardon was issued, which he attended, instead of airing his views after the meeting.
“I do not see the moral justification for Governor Wike’s criticism of the decision of the government to pardon Governors Dariye and Nyame at a meeting to which he was duly invited but did not attend.
“The Rivers State Deputy Governor, Dr. Ipalibo Banigo who joined the Council of State meeting virtually switched off her camera so it was difficult to determine whether she sat behind the dark screen or just walked away after first joining.
“If the Governor felt so strongly about the pardons, the right was for him or his representative to sit through the meeting and assert views. This did not do. A press release after the meeting is bolekaja politics,” Shehu stated.
